Former bilingual students excel at Plainview High School

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Plainview High School Principal Lisa Kersh made an interesting discovery in 2007 at the induction ceremony for the PHS National Honor Society.

As Kersh greeted parents of students who had met the criteria for becoming members of the NHS — a 5.25 GPA on a weighted scale and a variety of character and community service requirements — she noticed some parents couldn’t respond.

The reason? They didn’t understand English.

"I would go to the National Honor Society induction ceremony and talk with the parents and say, ‘Hello,’ and they would have their students translate for them," Kersh said. "That was different than in the past."

As she began at that time to track students who were coming into the NHS, Kersh realized several of them had come from the district’s bilingual program.

The program works with students at the elementary grade level and is part of the state-mandated bilingual program. Students at the high school level who need additional help attend English as a Second Language classes. However, Kersh said, most of the ESL students at the high school are recent immigrants.

When the school district came under fire recently because of an article in Texas Monthly criticizing PISD’s bilingual program, Kersh took advantage of an opportunity to address the local school board to defend her students and their teachers.

The opportunity came as part of PISD Special Program Coordinator Edna Garcia’s annual presentation on the PISD bilingual and English as a Second Language programs during a recent school board meeting.

During the question-and-answer portion of the presentation, in response to questions from the board, Kersh came forward and told trustees that some of the top graduates over the past few years came through the bilingual program.

In a subsequent interview, the principal explained that five of the 23 current members of the National Honor Society came through the bilingual program: Mariana Jauregui and Luis Trujillo exited the program in 2000, and Raquel Fierro, Elliana Garcia and Brianda Munoz all exited the program in 2001.

In addition, she continued, the salutatorian for the Class of 2009, Elizabeth Espino, went through the bilingual program and now is a student at Texas Tech University.

Santiago Medina, the fourth-ranking member of the Class of 2008, went through the program and graduated a year early. He also is a student at Tech.

Rob Knight, junior counselor at PHS, said 20 percent of the current top students in the Class of 2011 — four of the top 20 — came through the bilingual program.

Since one of the key elements in the debate over the program centers around student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, Kersh explained that Fierro was TAKS commended in English/language arts, science and social studies, Garcia was TAKS commended in math and Munoz was TAKS commended in English/language arts, math and social studies.

Kersh said one thing that has been a benefit to students from disadvantaged backgrounds is the opportunity to participate in the Upward Bound program through Texas Tech.

Through that program, which starts the high school student’s freshman year, they have an opportunity to spend one day a week on the Tech campus to get acquainted with college life.

Kersh explained that PISD provides transportation for the students — unlike other school districts who participate in the program — and the program leaders at Tech have shown an appreciation for that level of support. In fact, she said, while the program usually takes 5-7 students, this year it is considering taking 10 from Plainview. To fill those spots, she said, as of mid-September 65 students had picked up Upward Bound packets.

Kersh is proud of the success of the students who have come through the district’s bilingual program. After all, she pointed out, they have faced challenges through the years that most of their peers have not faced.

"The reason I started analyzing this was I think that speaks to the level of education they are getting throughout the system," Kersh said. "You’re doing something right when you can take students with that (kind of background) and level the playing field with students who have had every opportunity."